On the Retail and NRI side, they
offer the entire range of liability products like Savings Account (NRE, NRO and
Ordinary), Current Account, Term Deposits (Short Term as well as Long Term),
FCNR (B) Deposits, Exchange Earners Foreign Currency Account (EEFC), PIS
Accounts with Internet Banking facility. In addition for NRIs, through their
collaborations, they offer home loans, wealth management and estate &
succession planning services. The bank provides technology-driven
customer-centric solutions to include Internet banking, mobile banking,
app-based solutions, instant e-remittances solutions 24/7 from its gulf
branches to its branches in India though the RTGS and NEFT platform to any of
the 85,000 bank branches in India and offers ATM services connectivity through
an extended network in India.

At the launch, Dr. R
Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank Group, gave insight on global economies. He said “According
to IMF Jan 2018 Outlook, the advanced
economies are expected to grow by 2.3% in 2018 and 2.2% in 2019 respectively.
The emerging and developing economies expected to grow by 4.9% in 2018 and 5% in
2019 respectively. The Fed meeting in Jan 2018 has acknowledged the fast pace of
inflation and has forecasted three rate increases this year after raising
borrowing costs three times in 2017. We have also seen surge in bond yields and
slump in capital markets in recent times.”

Dr. R Seetharaman
highlighted on Indian economy and Tamil Nadu economy. He said “India is projected
to grow at 7.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018 making it the
fastest growing economy among the emerging economies following last year’s
slowdown due to demonetization and the implementation of Goods and Services Tax
(GST). The recent budget gave fiscal deficit guidance for 2018 and 2019 as 3.5%
and 3.3% of GDP respectively and focused on rural welfare, national healthcare,
education, social security, defense and infrastructure allocations.The recent
RBI meeting maintained status quo on the policy rate, but raised red flags
about potential steep spike in prices, fiscal concerns, and the likely fallout
of volatility in global financial markets.Tamil Nadu has a diversified
manufacturing sector and features among the leading states in several
industries like automobiles & components, engineering, pharmaceuticals,
garments & textile products, leather products, chemicals & plastics.
Due to its achievements as an auto production hub, Chennai is considered as the
‘Detroit of India’. Chennai is one of the top 10 global automotive clusters,
and this sector continues to attract interest across various automotive
ancillary units. ”

Dr. R.Seetharaman
provided his insights on Qatar economy. He said “IMF Oct 2017 has forecasted Qatar economy growth at 3.1% in
2018. In response to the economic blockade, Qatar has emerged strong and
has brought various reforms to transform itself into a self-reliant economy.
Qatar’s reserves are more than twice of its GDP and in terms of financial
stability Qatar is strong, stable and functional. Qatar lending growth in 2017
was close to 8% and deposit growth was more than 13%.Government, real estate
and services sector were the contributors to the lending growth. In terms of
food security, Qatar now has many local companies that are supporting the
country and it can develop these businesses further and boost its food
production for both local and international consumption. Qatar’s
landmark residency plan is a welcoming social and economic reform. Qatar has
also waived entry visa requirements for citizens of 80 countries.Qatar 2018 Budget
allocations for health, education and transportation reached QR83.5 billion or
41% of total expenditure. The transportation and other infrastructure projects
were assigned the largest share in the 2018 budget with allocations of QR42.0
billion, 21% of total expenditure.”

Dr. RSeetharaman highlighted
on Qatar-India bilateral relationships and on Kuwait bilateral relationships
with Qatar and India. He said “The Gulf – India trade is close to $100bn in
recent years. The bilateral
trade between Qatar and India during 2016-17 was above $8bn. Qatar’s major exports
to India include Petrochemicals, LNG, fertilizers, Sulphur and Iron Pyrites.
Qatar’s major imports from India include accessories, manmade yarn, fabrics,
made-ups, cotton yarn, transport equipment & machinery and instruments.In
recent times Kuwait – Qatar trade is close to US$1Bn&Kuwait India trade is
close to US$6bn.

Qatar is involved in non-hydro carbon diversification which
will give immense opportunities for the Tamil Nadu Corporates and SMEs to
explore in infrastructure development in the region. Tamil Nadu is also a
growing economy and hence the bilateral trade and investments between Tamil
Nadu and Qatar are also expected to surge in future. We are looking at
infrastructure creation, real estate, contract manufacturing, trade, corporate
houses, SMEs and services to tap potential clients from Tamil Nadu. Qatar and
other economies in the region have huge potential in these sectors. We want to
promote investments by taking entrepreneurs from Tamil Nadu to Qatar and its
global footprint. Also, Doha Bank has been promoting remittances from Qatar,
Kuwait, Oman to India including Tamil nadu. Doha Bank would like to provide a
glimpse of these trends and look forward to synergize on the cross border
relationships between Tamil Nadu, Qatar and its global footprint to its
customers from Chennai branch. Hence Chennai branch will enhance synergies
amongst Qatar, Tamil Nadu and Doha Bank Global network. ”